More thoughts of fall

A few weeks ago the leaves were just gorgeous. One day I was driving home from Logansport, noticing that not much had happened in the way of color, and the next day it seemed like Mother Nature had been whipping her paintbrush around. Going up the hill from Logansport to Royal Center on 35 was breathtaking. I mentioned the gorgeous leaves in the post about France Park also.

There seemed to be a respite in the 'pretty leaves' around the area due to winds, rain, and just the natural drift of the leaf to the ground. In fact we had such a 'whoosh' of leaves in our yard that the piles and piles were too much for my husband to tackle with the mower to mulch, and I just don't have time to rake..and rake...and rake. Our house is surrounded by trees and every year we encounter this same problem with raking leaves.

When I ran into our Youth Minister last week at the grocery store in Francesville, I mentioned that we had lots of leaves to rake and if the youth group wanted a project to do some Saturday or Sunday afternoon....and without batting an eye, he said they would be out on Sunday.

Lo and behold...nearly 30 middle school and high school students descended on our yard around 6:00 on Sunday and tackled the yard. The church bus and a couple of pick ups were parked in the drive. My husband had our big grain truck ready for hauling leaves, and three loads were taken to the woods behind the house. Of course the youth group fund receieved a nice donation for their efforts, and I am relieved that *I* don't have to find time to rake this fall.

Now we are in the second season of the fall colors. Our burning bushes are turning bright red. The leaves in the woods across the road are now the deep crimson, burnished gold, and rough green. The colors are there...just muted, but beautiful.
The oaks around our house are showing the deeper colors of orange, red, gold, and green. Not as bright and vibrant as those of a few weeks ago, but still beautiful.

Fall has never been one of my favorite season. I am more of a spring and summer person. But this fall I have really enjoyed the milder temperatures, the bright and muted colors, and the scent of the harvest in the air. I like the completion of the corn and soybeans cycle---seeds in the ground through harvest. Done. Plus the fall leads to my very favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. More on that later....

Could this have been the feeling that Thoreau had when he lived at Walden Pond? Was Emerson finding parallels between our lives and the cycle of life he observed in nature? Possibly. Is there something about just breathing in fresh air and noticing the natural world around us that is totally invigorating? Maybe.

If you haven't had a chance to just take a drive, please do that. You will enjoy the warmth of the sunshine, the colors of the trees, and the smell of the season.

France Park

Sunday at France Park

Last Sunday we spent the afternoon at France Park. Even though I have lived in White or Pulaski counties for most of my adult life, I had never visited this park in Cass County. The occasion this past Sunday? My youngest daughter was taking my niece's outdoor senior pictures.

The weather was beautiful. It was a gorgeous fall day, warm, sunny, just a little bit of a breeze, cloudless sky.

Of course we were not alone at the site of the waterfall where most of the pictures were taken. Other families were enjoying the rare fall Sunday afternoon and several others had the same idea we did---perfect opportunity for senior pictures.

My role last Sunday was "photographer's assistant" which meant carrying the lenses and scouting out perfect settings where Shelby could pose. We gathered leaves for her to sit in and throw, picked a geranium to tuck behind her ear, dragged a truck with a black and gold afghan (Pioneer colors) to sit in a cornfields (after we left France Park), positioned her on fences to look natural, and checked for shadows and the perfect lighting. My other role that day was keeping my 21 months old grandson from jumping in the water and running away from us. That task negated all of the duties of Task #1.




What I am getting to in this post is not about taking pictures, chasing my grandson around, or spending time with the family. It is about enjoying nature.

The Transcendentalist time period is one of my favorites. I like the country. I like the outdoors. I like nature. I enjoy reading the essays of Emerson and Thoreau, the poems of Longfellow and Whittier. I like the seasons. I enjoyed feeling the sun on my face and the slight breeze through the hair, hearing the crunch of the leaves under my feet, and seeing the brilliant dazzling colors of God's paintbrush as we drove through the countryside between Logansport and Royal Center.

After we had exhausted all of the spots for perfect pictures at the waterfall, we drove to the lake, which is actually an old quarry. Landon has fallen asleep on Papa's shoulder as we finished the first set of photos and was snoozing on the carseat, so I stayed with him while the rest of the group climbed some rocks for more 'perfect poses.' That afforded me the opportunity to gaze over Walden Pond....errr...the lake/water filled quarry. There is a peacefulness that still water can offer. There is the beauty of a perfect reflection of the trees and stone walls on the water.

What a perfect afternoon! Not only was I spending time with family, but I was outside, absorbing all that nature had to offer. The papers from the ENGL 112 and ENGL 211 classes were not graded. The Pod for ENG 222 was not completed. But I felt refreshed, rejuvenated, and relaxed--which is what Thoreau would have appreciated.

Having trouble wtih posting, especially responses?

My computer expert in ENGL 211 checked the blog and determined that the Internet Explorer was not allowing something with the cookies. He switched to Mozilla Firefox and when we tried to post a response to Christina's blog, it worked.

Best thing to do is to use Firefox browser instead of Internet Explorer.

This can be downloaded through the following link:

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

Hope this works!!

(Thanks Brandon!)

I've changed! Have you?

I love reading, as if that would be a surprise.

In another Pods of Thought blog I mentioned that my tastes in reading material have changed lately. I used to enjoy the Best Sellers list, checking out everything I could from the library in the summer. Of course when my daughters were little, library visits were a regular thing, and we all came home with our arms full of delightful books to read on a hot summer day, under the trees in the back yard.

Now I read SOME of the Best Sellers, but only if a friend recommends one. I am drifting more to biographies, historical based fiction, and inspirational/motivational books. When I visit Barnes and Noble, I glance at the NEW IN FICTION tables, but I spend most of my time of the right side of the main aisle in the Lafayette store.

Why the change? Just as many of you are noticing, as you grow older and more mature, you have a deeper appreciation for different styles of writing. Many of you are exploring authors and titles that you may have scoffed at during your high school years. Reading through more mature eyes, with an adult mind and heart, makes a difference. Perspective changes. Situations may seem clearer.

What is at the top of the My Library list on my Nook?

Gap Creek ( by Robert Morgan - a Free Friday selection last week)

A Confident Heart (by Renee Swope for my online Bible study)

Made to Crave (by Lisa TerKeurst - another book from Proverbs 31 Ministries that I am readying)

Summer of Fire (by Lisa Jacobs about the Yellowstone National Park fires few years ago, interest caught because a former high school student was one of the firefighters and two other friends work at the Park each fall)

Good reading...different from what I read five-ten years ago.

How have your reading interests changed?